Unions are not the Problem, David Brooks

David Brooks' op-ed in the Times this morning blames the decision by NJ authorities to back out of the tunnel project on public sector unions.  His logic goes like this: Jersey, and every other state, has had to spend so much on police pensions and teacher pensions that it can't afford the tunnel.  Not only that, but the problem is intractable because the government can't negotiate with unions for risk of losing political support. This is, to Brooks, a "local issue that illuminates a larger national problem." He closes by lamenting that out government officials (specifically democrats) are unable to say "this but not that" when drafting a budget (as in "pensions, no; tunnel, yes")

  Brooks supports building the tunnel - a massive outlay of tax money BTW - but not pensions for cops and firemen. Like everyone else in the land, there are things he wants the government to buy and things he doesn't want the government to buy. When he says he wants a government that spends on "this but not that," he means a government that spends money on projects he personally supports.
  Brooks supports government spending that spurs private wealth. He calls it "future prosperity." The view of right wing writers is that private wealth is what drives the economy; that the wealthy are the masters of our universe and need to be given every advantage so that we can all prosper.
  Government money going to ordinary workers, on the other hand, is holding the economy back, because prosperity is not about improving the lives of workers, it is about improving the bottom line of private companies.  The game-changers, the paradigm shifters, the crusaders . . .
   This is the central rub between capitalists like Brooks and socialists like myself. The purpose of national wealth is to improve the life of the average worker, not the wealthy elite. Every percentage point added to the gap between the rich and poor in this country represents a failure of society to properly distribute wealth. It is the job of government to engineer the economy such that ordinary people get higher wages, low prices, adequate health care, police protection, justice, education, leisure time, and retirement security.  I judge an economy on how well it is providing these things, whether through public or private systems.
   Brooks, and most others in the right, judge an economy on GDP, assuming that working peoples' lives automatically improve when the largest banks and corporations, and the wealthy families that own them, make more money. Brooks believes it is humane to want the Waltons and Halliburton to make outrageous profits, because the wealth always trickles down to the poor and middle class. To them, government's role is to enrich the rich, in order to best benefit the poor.
  This is pure Ronnie Reagan voodoo horseshit. Marx knew better.  Over and over, in all capitalist societies, there have been cycles wherein the rich, left to their own devices, ruin the entire economy through fraud, corruption and waste.  Profits cannot stay good forever, in any industry.  They start lying, cheating and stealing. It just happened in 2007 and it will happen again. That is why unions were invented in the first place.  Not just to stop horrendous working conditions and child labor, but to stop capitalism. Because wealth doesn't trickle down.  When you give them extra money, they keep it for themselves, then pass it along to their children.
   I am amused when capitalists talk about how we can never have socialism because sharing is not human nature, then they turn around and try to sell me this trickle down nonsense, like the rich all of a sudden will share their wealth (in contravention of human nature!).
   According to ex-President Clinton, banks and corporations are sitting on giant piles of money right now. Banks are reluctant to lend because of the recession, and corporations are reluctant to invest in new productive capacity because of the lack of demand. Wealth has been shifted to the top and it is stuck there. Unions had nothing to do with it.  Government policies, going back to the Reagan years and continuing through Bush41, Clinton, and Bush43 years, have smashed unions, privatized government and deregulated industry. Tax cuts, loosening of business regulations, promoting a casino on Wall Street, globalizing capital instead of labor, and allowing businesses to hire undocumented workers under the table without penalty has failed to get ordinary people higher wages, low prices, adequate health care, police protection, justice, education, leisure time, and retirement security.
   It's time to try something else. It's time to try expanding government work projects and hiring more government workers and giving them the good benefits all workers deserve.  Including pensions, which act as powerful incentives to do a good job.  It's time to tax private companies that aren't advancing the cause of the average working person and the average parent. It's time to stop letting private companies abuse the wealth disparities between nations without paying anything extra. It's time to amend treaties that guarantee special status for corporations in foreign countries as a way of circumventing regulations and trampling on human rights for profit. Allowing abuse of overseas workers is morally wrong AND takes jobs away from Americans.
  These policies are much more important than a tunnel, but shifting wealth from banks and corporations back to the government - as we did in your favorite decade, the 50's, Mr. Brooks - and breaking up the military industrial complex - as suggested by Eisenhower, the president back then - these things will allow us to build all the tunnels we need.  Just like how we were able to build the interstate highway system in the 50's, when taxes were high and unions were strong enough to gain humane treatment for hard working people.
   My dad had a great pension, too, even though he was non-union - y'know why? IBM, his employer, was so afraid of unions that it treated its employees like royalty - an indirect benefit of powerful unions!
  The democrats aren't going far enough, but they are right and Brooks is wrong. Seriously, David, a full salary pension for a firefighter is a crippling waste, but allowing a $50 million bonus to a hedge fund manager for ruining the economy is good policy?!?!
  Shift wealth away from the wealthy corporations and families at the top as soon as possible, by any means necessary.  That's what government policy should be. The money for tunnels won't trickle down from anywhere. Those at the top already have theirs, buddy. They don't care about commuters or anyone else. We have to take their money if we want to use it.
UPDATE: check this post out. Dude who knows better crucified Brooks on pensions!